Indian Railway Fare Hike Is Justified

The Modi Sarkar has announced about 14.2% hike in the passenger fare. The Congress Party and all the past rulers have found a fresh stock of ammunition against the Modi Sarkar and are leaving no stone unturned to tell people how “Acche Din” aren’t coming. I decided to find out the reason why Modi Sarkar decided to hike the fare. The information I found was shocking.

Let’s first understand that Indian Railway has been loss making! You can’t run a loss-making system for a long time unless you keep on injecting capital in it. Former Railway Board Chief J.P. Batra has said that the Railways make an annual loss of Rs. 29,000 crore only on the passenger trains. The latest Railway fare hike will only give the Railways an additional of Rs. 11,000 crore. Which means the Railways will continue to make losses.

The blame for the mess goes to the UPA government which did absolutely nothing to improve the situation of the railways and try to convert it into a profit making service that gives great railway stations, cleanest railways with the best possible food and security to the passengers. Now if Modi Government wants to offer that – they *MUST* hike the fare.

The Congress (and UPA) government has inculcated bad habits in Indians – that everything should be free or subsidised. That’s not the right way to do things. I believe Modi Government would hike the fare again to ensure that the railways become profitable in the next ~2 years. By the end of next 5 years, we should have much better railway services.

Indian Railways is the ‘BIGGEST EMPLOYER’ in India; and I think in the world. But they aren’t cashflow positive. The problem is that we’ve been made to pay too low fare for the services which has resulted into the loss of revenues and degradation of the services Railways can offer to the passengers. Before we start complaining about why the IRCTC ticket booking is pathetic and why there aren’t enough seats; let’s understand that we pay TOO LOW for the services we’re getting.

Right, i am agree that Indian railways are earning a lot, but still they are on loss. What would the biggest problem that cannot bearable by the government, but modi sarkar can improve the Indian railways standards…..just hope for the better.

Indian Railways is not the biggest employer in the world, but I see your point. When I travel with Indian Railway, I see trains full of people, stations full of people and also Indian Railways stuff everywhere. There is clearly higher demand for IRCTC services than its supply. To get Indian railways to black numbers may be just a matter of a simple equation – the demand for tickets is virtually endless, but I think there is broader image of this huge organisation. Giving work to so much employees is a story for its self. The low cost of tickets is another.